﻿Wind Energy and Native Prairie Field Tour & Workshop

2011 Updates

On behalf of the Native Prairie Working Group, the Foothills Restoration Forum presents the following document - Recommended Principles and Guidelines for Minimizing Disturbance of Native Prairie from Wind Energy Development in Alberta (May 2011). The recommended principles and guidelines have been provided to Alberta Sustainable Resource Development - Alberta Fish and Wildlife for consideration when revising current guidelines. Foothills Restoration Forum facilitated the process to develop the recommended guidelines.

Numerous individuals from government ministries and agencies, companies and organizations participated in the year-long process to develop the recommended principles and guidelines. Participation does not imply endorsement of the full content of this document. However, no major areas of disagreement have been identified.

As facilitators, two other reports of input from the process have been provided. One summarizes issues and views raised by participants regarding the regulatory framework for wind energy development. The other captures preliminary ideas and suggestions regarding beneficial management practices. Addressing these areas more fully was beyond the scope of this process.

October 27th & 28th, 2010

The Foothills Restoration Forum and the Wind Energy Working Group were pleased to facilitate the ﻿Wind Energy and Native Prairie Field Tour & Workshop, part of a process to help define guidelines for wind energy development to minimize disturbance of native prairie similar to the guidelines specific to the oil and gas industry.

A working group comprised of government, non-government organizations, industry, environmental consultants, and conservation interest representatives have been compiling background information on policies, principles, guidelines and practices that have been used by other industry sectors to minimize disturbance on native prairie to provide a basis for the workshop.

A portion of the afternoon program involved brainstorming breakout sessions to tackle different aspects of minimal disturbance specific to the wind energy industry and create an initial list of recommendations.